Nintendo turns a rare full-year profit

The Kyoto-based video games company has reported a net profit of 41.8 billion yen (£230 million) and an operating profit of 24.8 billion yen (£137 million) for the fiscal year leading up to the end of March.

This marks the first full-year profit since 2011, arresting a long term slide for house of Mario. The figure also exceeds Nintendo’s own forecast of a 30 billion yen (£164 million) profit.

During the last fiscal year, Nintendo reported a 23.2 billion yen (£128 million) loss, so things are clearly looking up for the company.

Indeed, Nintendo’s turn-around is expected to continue, largely thanks to the March announcement that it was joining with DeNA to make mobile games based on its enviable IP. The first lucrative games from this partnership are expected to launch later in the year.

As such, Nintendo is predicting that operating profits will double over the forthcoming financial year to to 50 billion yen.

Despite this good news, Wii U sales aren’t expected to rise at over the coming year – probably thanks to the platform’s hotly anticipated Zelda game slipping to 2016 – and 3DS sales are expected to fall from 8.7 million to 7.6 million.

Still, there’s always those Amiibo sales, with the company recently promising more stock following their immense success and the widespread shortages that have followed.